Special Educational Needs

SUPPORT FOR YOUR CHILD AT BEAVER ROAD PRIMARY SCHOOL

At Beaver Road Primary School we believe excellent teaching gives children the life chances they deserve. We work hard to provide a caring, stimulating and inclusive environment to ensure that every child reaches their full potential. We recognise that you know your child best and you may feel that they need additional help or support for some or all of their time at Our School.

Not all children will need extra support with their learning but the progress of all children at Beaver Road is monitored closely to ensure support is provided where necessary. Support can be given for a variety of reasons. This booklet is to inform you of the types of support available for your child at Beaver Road. It will help you understand who can help and how this support can be accessed.

TEACHING AND

LEARNING

Children learn and develop in different ways. Teachers know and understand this and use different teaching styles to plan work at different levels in order to meet the needs of all pupils in their class. This is called “Quality First Teaching.” All pupils at Beaver Road receive “Quality First Teaching” from their class teacher. Our aim is to provide the highest quality learning environment for your child and for them to achieve their full potential. All our classes, when necessary, are supported by teaching assistants and pupils are offered additional support or catch up intervention programmes where needed.

At Beaver Road the progress and attainment of all pupils is reviewed on a termly basis by the School Leadership Team. These termly pupil progress meetings help identify children who may need additional support.

Parents and Carers are informed about their child’s academic progress and targets through the twice yearly Parent’s Consultation Evenings and the annual end of year school report. In addition, Parents and Carers of children who have a Statement of SEND or a SEND Resource Agreement are invited into School at least three times a year for a review meeting.

ADDITIONAL SUPPORT

If a child continues to have difficulty after intervention or has a high level of difficulty when they join Our School, they may be considered to have special educational needs/disability (SEND) and are placed on the SEND register. This decision is made in partnership with Parents and Carers.

At Beaver Road Primary we provide support for pupils across the 4 areas of need as laid out in the SEN Code of Practice 2014:

Communication and interaction

Cognition and Learning

Social, emotional and mental health difficulties

Sensory and or physical needs

Children with SEND have learning difficulties and/or physical disabilities which make it harder for them to learn than most children of the same age. They will need extra support or different help eg. modified tasks, extra time or breaks in formal assessments.

Our School and other agencies can help most children overcome their difficulties quickly and easily. A few children will need extra help for some or all of their time in School.
This means they may have difficulty with:

Some or all of the work in School

Reading, writing and mathematics

Understanding and processing information

Expressing themselves

Understanding others

Organising themselves

Sensory perception or physical mobility

Managing their behaviour or emotions

Making friends or relating to adults

At Beaver Road Primary School teaching and learning opportunities are adapted and continually evaluated (with support of external agencies when required) to ensure the needs of all our learners are met. Parents and Carers should not feel unduly anxious about such additional support as it allows children to receive the specific help they need to make the next steps in their learning journey. To ensure that staff are aware of children’s needs some children create a Pupil Passport in conjunction with their class teacher and their parents. The Pupil Passport is designed so that staff have the correct information. This means that appropriate strategies are used to ensure that teaching has the maximum impact and pupils feel valued and their needs are understood.

Some children will also have an Access to Learning plan. This will focus on outcomes that teachers, pupils and parents want to achieve each term and will be reviewed after each term.

SEND Stages and Terminology

The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice gives guidance to schools in meeting the needs of pupils. It sets out how help should be given in a step-by-step approach.
Our School SEN Policy reflects the new SEND Code of Practice. Parents and Carers will be consulted at all stages of our graduated approach and the class teacher will inform you of the additional work they, or other adults in School, do with your child.
The process is as follows:

Wave 1

(Quality First Teaching)

All pupils in School receive quality first teaching which is also known as Wave 1.Wave 1 is the effective inclusion of all pupils in high-quality every day personalised teaching. Such teaching will, for example, be based on clearappropriate objectives that are shared with the children and returned to at the end of the lesson. Teachers use a lively, interactive range of teaching styles and make maximum use of visual and kinaesthetic teaching techniques such as Kagan structures as well as auditory/verbal learning.

If a pupil has needs which are related to more specific areas of their education, such as spelling, handwriting, numeracy and literacy skills, then they may be considered for a Wave 2 intervention. A Wave 2 intervention is a targeted catch up provision for children to ‘put them back on course’. This will be led by a teacher or a teaching assistant and is usually done in focus groups. Interventions at Wave 2 will be planned and reviewed by the class teacher half-termly to ascertain the effectiveness of the provision and to inform future planning.

Wave 2

Wave 3

If a child continues to have difficulty after a Wave 2 intervention or has a high level of difficulty when they arrive at School, they may require support from an outside agency such as an Educational Psychologist or a Speech and Language Therapist. After an assessment is undertaken by the EP or Speech Therapist, a programme of support is sent to the School from the involved agency and is shared with the Parents and Carers. School may seek professional advice from a range of agencies including:

Education, Health and Care Plan – EHC Agreement

(Formerly Statement of Special Education Needs.)

If your child’s needs are complex or severe we may suggest that we make an application for an EHC Agreement to the Local Authority. This document will describe your child’s SEND and the special help they should receive. Education, Health and Care Plans usually involve the Local Authority providing extra resources to help your child. These could include money, staff time, special equipment or attendance at a school with specialist resourced support. This additional provision will be reviewed annually or sooner if required and would include Parent, teacher, SENCo and pupil.

From September 2014, all children and young people from age 0-25, who have significant special educational needs will undergo an Education, Health and Care (EHC) assessment (unless the Parents/Carers of the young person decide to opt out of the new system). This will lead to an EHC Plan instead of a Statement of SEND. For children and young people who already have a Statement of SEND, the transfer of Statements into EHC Plans will be a gradual process and this is the responsibility of the Local Authority.

Beaver Road Staff

Here at Beaver Road Primary School we have an experienced team of staff who work together and may be involved in supporting your child in school. These include:

Your child’s teacher who will always make sure that learning is differentiated appropriately and that tasks set are accessible for your child. Your child’s teacher is available at the end of each day or a meeting can be scheduled either directly or via the school office. Please talk to your child’s teacher if you have any concerns regarding your child in school.

Teaching assistants support all pupils in class. Here at Beaver Road Primary School we have several additional teaching assistants who help support groups and individual children with their learning.

Our School SENCo (Emma Easmon) who is an experienced teacher. Emma Easmon has completed the National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordination at Manchester Metropolitan University. She is responsible for co-ordinating SEND provision across the school, from Nursery to Year 6.

Our Specialist Dyslexia Teacher (Cathy Blairs) who was judged by Ofsted to be an outstanding practitioner, provides and coordinates assessments and interventions for children with dyslexia. This is a 1:1 intervention which has a good evidence base for rapidly increasing progress in reading. Cathy holds a Post Graduate Certificate in Specific Learning Difficulties, is a member of the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) holding AMBDA status, and attends regular training and workshops as part of her continuing professional development.

A Designated School Governor (Pauline Black) who works with the SENCo in leading SEND across the school.

EHA (Early Help Assessment) Lead Teacher (Lorna Downey)who coordinates the EHA meetings across the school, from Nursery to Year 6.

Nikki Williamson is our Speech and Language therapist and is commissioned to work at Beaver Road for a day a week.

Other teachers on Our School Staff

Joanna Burrows and Siobhan Holmes have also completed the National Award for Special Educational Needs Co-ordination.

Sometimes School may commission Specialist Support to work with identified children with a particular focus eg. Speech and Language therapists or Occupational therapists. We also regularly liaise with Specialist schools and use their outreach services to support our children.

To ensure we have a whole School approach and our staff have the skills and knowledge to support children with SEND, there is a programme of training. Staff regularly attend specialist training courses. Recent training has included Lego therapy, Precision Monitoring (A method of teaching in very small steps), The impact of adult language, De-escalation training, Autism training and Friendship groups and social interaction training.

The Manchester Early Help Assessment (EHA)

As part of our support for all children here at Beaver Road Primary School, we have regular opportunities to consult support services and health agencies through a multi-agency approach which sometimes includes completing the Early Help Assessment Framework (EHA) to support the family as well as the identified pupil. School and the family will meet and discuss and plan together the best use of advice and support from other agencies, with a view to achieving the best outcome for the child and family.

Professionals who might attend a CAF meeting include:

The School Nurse who works closely with us and can advise and assess any medical needs. If a care plan is required this would be done in conjunction with the Parent and School nurse and would be reviewed annually.

A Speech and Language therapist who works with children in School and can offer advice as to whether your child would benefit from this support or assessment.

An Educational Psychologist may give advice or complete an assessment for a child.

Outreach support from specialist schools.

If you would like advice from professionals outside school you may find the following numbers and websites useful:

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who should I talk to if I am worried about my child?

Your child’s class teacher is always best placed to answer any questions you may have relating to any aspect of School life. They may consult other staff members involved with your child. You can also contact the School SENCo either via email or the school office if your concerns have not been answered by your child’s class teacher.

What types of support will be available to my child? How will teaching be adapted?

There are many types of SEND support available at Beaver Road Primary School.

These range from full time 1-1 support to short 20 minute intervention sessions.

Support for all children begins in the classroom with ‘Quality First Teaching’, where the class teacher plans differentiated activities in all lessons including a range of learning styles and outcomes. If a teacher feels that a child needs more support, they will share this information with you as a Parent/Carer and outline and deliver initial provision. If progress remains a concern, the class teacher and SENCo will follow the process outlined in the school SEND Identification Strategy.

How will I find out about my child’s progress?

You can attend regular Parent’s Evenings throughout the School year. In addition, you can email the class teacher or call the School Office to arrange an appointment to meet with the class teacher to discuss any concerns.

How can I support my child?

Stay in regular contact with School – we want to work in partnership with Parents and Carers. Attend all Parent meetings and support your child in following tasks and homework set by School. Encourage your child at all times and let us know of all successes outside of School. Always talk to your child’s class teacher if you have any concerns or worries about your child.

The high levels of pastoral care for all are complemented by excellent provision to support pupils who have particular needs, ensuring that everyone is included in the life of the school, academically and socially.